By Adam Pagnucco.
Twelve days after Washington Post employees staged a 24-hour walkout over stalled collective bargaining negotiations, the Post Guild reported that the company has come back to the table. However, the union tweeted, “They returned with peanuts.” Following is the union’s update on negotiations to its members.
Scabby the Rat attends the Post strike on December 7. Photo credit: Washington Post Guild.
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An update on contract negotiations from the Post Guild bargaining committee:
Dec. 19, 2023 — Two weeks ago, more than 750 of our Post Guild members walked off the job for 24 hours to declare they were worth more than The Washington Post was offering at the bargaining table. After 18 months of negotiations, they demanded the company come back to the table in good faith to bargain a fair deal.
The company did come back — a testament to the power of our members’ collective action. But as with all offers from The Post, the company’s concessions were both difficult to get and meager when they arrived. The Post made slight improvements to its pay proposal, but still did not come close to keeping pace with inflation or our competition. The company also refused to engage with some of our other key policy proposals and failed to promise no layoffs in the coming months. On top of that, The Post threatened to pull those pay improvements off the table — and attack some of our key contractual job protections — if we don’t accept their subpar offer by Dec. 31.
At the same time, Post employees are about to lose 240 of our colleagues through a buyout process that was targeted and coercive. These job cuts will force us to do more work with less help amid two wars and a presidential election that could test the limits of our democracy.
This is unacceptable. Washington Post workers deserve better. We cannot recommend our colleagues accept this deal without additional concessions from the company, and we refuse to be bullied into a contract that is less than what we’re worth.
Here’s how you can support us: Send a letter to our incoming Publisher Will Lewis through the link in our bio telling him he must respect his workers and listen to our concerns.